Revelation Reveals the Antichrist

Scripture: Revelation 13:1-18, Daniel 7:1-28

Who is the antichrist? Revelation 13 actually speaks of two beasts, not one. Antichrist is a power that puts itself in the place of Christ. The most severe condemnation in the Bible is made toward those who worship the beast and his image. Beasts in the Bible represent kingdoms. What world power does this beast represent?

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Tonight we have a lesson that is very important and yet very sensitive and even a little bit controversial. Our subject tonight is dealing with the antichrist of Revelation, “Revelation Reveals the Antichrist.” And I want to remind you that there is an Amazing Fact Study Guide that corresponds with this that has a lot of the same plus even more information, many of the facts in the Scriptures that you’re going to be hearing about that some of the sites have and it can also be ordered, and it’s called, “Who Is The Antichrist”?

Now as we get into our lesson, maybe I should set the stage by having you turn to the book of Revelation chapter 13, this is where you find the beast. I was gonna get right into the program but I’d rather open up and get right into the word. Revelation chapter 13, first of all when we think of the Beast of Revelation 13 it’s a--it’s a common misunderstanding, there are actually two beasts. Revelation 13 verse 1, “Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea.” Now you go to Revelation 13 verse 11, “Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” So how many beast in Revelation 13? We always think of the mark of the beast but there are really two beasts there. We’ll say more about that later.

When we talk about the antichrist and the beast, a lot of people wonder, “Are they the same? Is it different”? The word “antichrist” does not appear in Revelation. That shocked me when I first heard that. Some people think the book of Revelation is all about the antichrist, the word does not even appear there. The word “antichrist” appears, well, four times, “antichrist,” the word “antichrists” appears once, total of five times, and they’re in the books of John, I John, II John. And matter of fact, John back in his day said tha--said, “There are even now many antichrists.”

The word “antichrist” means in opposition to or in place of Christ. So this power is opposed to or putting itself in place of Christ, meaning attempting to counterfeit or to be a manufactured false representation. So just--we’re gonna go back to Revelation 13, turn with me to Daniel 7. Now we’ve learned in prophecy code the key to unlock Revelation is by having an understanding of the other books of prophecy in the Bible. In Daniel chapter 7, is a prophecy where it deals with these beasts that come up out of the sea. The fourth of these four beasts is the antichrist and synonymous with the beast of Revelation 13.

In the Book of Daniel, God tries to give the history of God’s people in the battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world, and He gives it in a number of visions. Daniel chapter 2, it’s given in the vision of a metal man, head of gold is Babylon, arms are Medo-Persia, and this is all explained in--in the prophecy, the belly bronze is Greece, the legs of iron are Rome, the feet of iron and clay represent the divisions of the Roman Empire.

And then a stone comes, the rock of Ages, Jesus, destroys this idol and fills the whole earth. Bible says the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole earth. Then you get to Revelation, I’m sorry, Daniel chapter 7, it tells a similar hers--history but now it’s using a vision of a lion, a bear, a leopard, and this other strange beast. In Daniel chapter 8 it does it in the context of a goat and a ram.

Then when you get to Daniel chapter 10, 11, and 12, it becomes even more intricate. Every prophecy gives deeper detail. Revelation has something of the same. In Revelation it gives the history of the church from the first coming to the second coming; first it’s in the religious history, the seven churches of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Then you’ve got the political history of the church in the seven seals of Revelation. Then you have a military history of the church in the seven trumpets of Revelation. God is trying to give us perspective. You know that’s one reason we’ve got two eyes. You get your depth and you get two ears so you can hear an stereo and I supposed there’s a reason we have two nostrils, I’m not sure what that is. But I know why God give us one mouth, that’s all we can handle.

But so you get the different dimensions of the prophecies through this repetition. Alright, let’s start reading quickly, Revelation 7, I’m gonna jump right to verse 2, no, no, no, no, no, Daniel chapter 7, thank you. Daniel 7 verse 2, “And Daniel spoke saying, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up a great sea.”

“And four great beast(s) came up from the sea, each different form the other. The first was like,’” a what? “A lion, and he had eagle’s wings and I watched till its wings are plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made a stand upon two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.”

“Then suddenly another beast, second, like a bear, it raised itself up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and they said thus to it, arise, devour much flesh. After this I looked, and behold, there was another, like a leopard, which had on his back four wings of a bird, and the beast also had four heads; and dominion was given to it.”

“And after this,” here’s the fourth beast, the antichrist power, “a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, that had huge iron teeth,” don’t forget the iron, “it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beast(s) that were before it, and had ten horns.” Just like the metal image had ten toes.

“I was considering the horns, and there came up another little horn among the ten and coming up before whom three of the first ones were plucked up by the roots. And there was in this horn the eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great and pompous words.”

And I’m gonna jump down here. Daniel is talking to the angel. He wants to know a lot more it says he was especially concerned about the fourth beast. And he said in verse 19, “I wish to know the truth about the fourth beast,” cause this one it says is gonna persecute the saints. And verse 23, “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, it will devour the whole earth, trample it, break it in pieces.”

“The ten horns are ten kings who will arise from this kingdom, and another shall arise after them. He’ll be different from the first ones, he’ll subdue three kings, he’ll speak pompous words against,” I mean, great words, blasphemous words, against, “the Most High. He’ll persecute the saints of the Most High, he will intend, he will think to change times and laws. Then the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and a times and half a time.” That’s 42 months, three and a half years, a time is one year that means a complete cycle of the seasons, a times is a couple or two, that’s three, total, and a half. In a Jewish calendar 300 and 60 days, 42 months, 12 hundred and sixty days, it all adds up to the same period you find in Revelation. “But the court will be seated and they shall take away his dominion.”

Alright, now with that background, I wanna go to the screen it helps us to sometimes visualize some of these things. We’re gonna do questions and answers, lot of information, so you ever take a tape player and turn it on fast so it talks real fast, that’s how I’m gonna sound tonight. But I want you to do that with your listening as well, you record quicker tonight; a lot to cover.

Then th--Revelation 14 verse 9, why is this subject important for us to understand, these three angels’ messages that we’ve talked about just before Jesus comes? “The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice; If any man worships the beast and its image and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand, he himself will also drink the wine of the wrath of God, that is poured out in full strength into the cup of His indignation, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will ascend up forever and ever, they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Now friends, I think that that is a sobering truth to consider, because the most fearsome curse in the Bible is pronounced against those who worship the beast, the antichrist, and his image. Do we need to know who that is? Yes, we do! It is something that ought to make us shutter and tremble to think I could ignorantly worship that power and not know it.

I always like to interject an amazing fact, now would be a good time. How many of you heard of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus? A famous circus, the founder of that of course was P. T. Barnum. And he was quite a huckster, a real interesting character. He had a museum in New York City of oddities. And you--you’ve heard of Tom Thumb, he had this midget that he called “General Tom Thumb.” Of course, he wasn’t a general, but he gave him that name. Ah, this slave named Joyce Heath, who is probably in her 80’s, but he told everyone she was a hundred and 61 years old and she used to be the nanny of George Washington. People lined up and they’d paid money to see this.

He took the head of a monkey and attached it to a fish body, stuffed fish body, and he said it was a mermaid. And people lined up, and he had a whole museum full of these things. And he would mix a few true things with something really bogus things and folks didn’t know what to think but they paid a lot of money to come.

Well Burnham heard about the Cardiff giant, evidently, some characters in upstate New York, they had--they wanted to pull a prank on the people. And they hired an artist to carve this I don’t know, 9 or 12 foot long made out of gypsum giant that looked like a dead person that had been mummified. They buried it on a friend’s farm who was part of the plot, let the grass grow over it for a year, then they did this all very secretly. Then they hired a well driller to drill right on the spot where this was. And they discovered, he said, “I’ve hit something” and they said, “Dug it up,” and pretty soon all these people in the town gathered to see this Cardiff’s giant. And they were paying money, 50 cents a pop to see this.

Well when Barnum heard that he offered 60,000 dollars to buy this granite block or gypsum block. And the man said, “No, I’m making too much money,” said, “Then, well I’ll carve my own.” So Barnum carved his own Cardiff giant, he says, “That’s the false one I’ve got the real one here.”

Well the guys that pulled the prank on the farm they took him to court to sue him. They said, “He’s copying our giant.” And the judge realized they’re both frauds and he said, “You can’t make a counterfeit of a fraud.” And all these people were going to worshiping these two counterfeit giants and they’re just blocks of granite, paying money to stare at it; kind’a pathetic. You ever heard the expression, “there’s a sucker born every minute”? That’s what Hannum said when he saw the people lining up to see Barnum’s giant. Barnum is not the one who actually said that, it was his critics who said that about him. But just gives you a little background of how people will line up to worship a counterfeit. And so we’ve got to know what is the true and what is the false.

DB—Sermon Question #1: Question number one in our study. In Daniel chapter 7 we see four beasts coming up out of the sea, and what do these beast(s) represent?

One is like a lion, one is like a bear with three ribs in his mouth, one is like a leopard with wings, and of course the other’s this non-descript beast. The fourth beast it says shall be the fourth kingdom on the earth. What a beast represent? These beasts in prophecy represent these kingdoms, these powers, and so it’s the fourth beast, it’s the fourth kingdom. Different kingdoms have animals that often represent them. When you think of the United States what animal do you think of? You think of the eagle, incidentally, that was also the animal for ancient Pagan Rome. And I’m not sure I think in Australia, it’s a Koala Bear? Maybe New Zealand it’s the Kiwi? You know different beasts or countries have their national animal, right? What are the waters represent? Revelation chapter 17 verse 15. The waters are peoples and multitudes, and tongues, and nations. So these represent all the different peoples of the world.

DB—Sermon Question #2: Question number two. The four beasts of Daniel chapter 7 represent the four world kingdoms that you find. Daniel chapter 2 verse 38 and 39 tells us Babylon is the first kingdom represented as a lion in Daniel chapter 7. What do the eagles wings mean and what do the four winds of verse 2 represent?

Well you remember this lion that we saw had two wings like an eagle and end up getting plucked and a man’s heart is given to it. You can read in Jeremiah 4 and Habakkuk chapter 1 that the eagles wings represent speed and also magnificence, or majesty, something exalted. The winds, Revelation chapter 7 verse 1 tells us 1 through 3, represent wings of strife, commotion, turmoil, like a storm. And so these symbols, these keys, begin to help us understand what the code of prophecy is.

DB—Sermon Question #3: Number three. What kingdom does the bear represent?

Cha--Daniel chapter 7 verse 5. And what are the three ribs in its mouth? What do they symbolize?

Well, if you read in Daniel chapter 8 in the vision of the goat and the ram, it backs up and it gives you the interpretation. Remember the cl--the key is to understand the Bible, compare scripture with scripture. Often if you keep reading in prophecy you begin to understand what was said earlier. And we learned that this bear represents what kingdom? The Medo-Persian kingdom, and the three ribs in its mouth represent the three world powers that fell as it came into power being; Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. And it stood upon one side, one side higher than the other because the Medo-Persian kingdom was sort of a conglomeration of two kingdoms. The Persians were much stronger and they ended up taking over.

DB—Sermon Question #4: Number four. Greece is the third kingdom, Daniel chapter 8 verse 21 tells us, the angel tells us it’s Greece, represented by a leopard. And a leopard is an animal that is known for its speed and its stealth. And the--the way Alexander conquered so quickly is indicative of that. With four wings and four heads; what do the heads represent? And what do the four wings represent?

Well the--the leopard represent speed, the wings represent also the speed; four wings because the kingdom of Alexander, and four heads, when he died, was divided among his four generals. The four heads represent the four kingdoms into which the Empire of Alexander the Great was divided when he died. These four generals were headed by Casiander (Cassander), Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucius (Seleucus). And so those were the four divisions of the Alexandrian Empire. And everything happened exactly as the prophecies foretold. Isn’t that fascinating? And you know when Daniel made this prophecy Greece was a bunch of tribes, who would have ever predicted that they would rule the world?

Without wanting to ever offend anybody, I mean if I should tell you right now that someday Uruguay is gonna be the world power. No offense to our friends who are in Uruguay, but how many of you would put money on that? That’s how likely it seemed when Daniel said that Greece was gonna be a world power. Only God could know that, amen? And this is a picture of how vast the kingdom of Alexander the Great was.

DB—Sermon Question #5: Number five. The Roman Empire, the fourth k--world kingdom is represented by this horrible monster, this beast with iron teeth. Now I should pause right here, you remember the iron represents Rome in Daniel chapter 2. So that’s a clue right there. What do the horns represent? And what do these horns do?

You read in Daniel chapter 8 verse 20 again when it’s describing the pair--the vision of the goat and the ram it tells us these horns that you saw represent the kings of Mede and Persia. Horns represent kings or kingdoms. And so this beast, the fourth beast, has got ten horns so what does that mean? Ten kingdoms. If you know even your basic elementary history, if you made it through elementary school, you remember that when the Roman Empire began to unravel around 486, it divided into the ten nations of Europe today. And they have some ancient names, you see a map there of what it something it looked like. Don’t miss the North Africa there, you see the Vandals, and to the right of your screen, the Heruli and the Visigoths, up by Spain.

The more modern names the Alem--Alemanni would be Germany; and those who speak Spanish know Aleman is--is German, the Franks, the French; the Burgundians, Switzerland; the Suevites, Portuguese; Lombards, Italy; Visigoths, Spain; Anglo-Saxons is England, then of course, you got the Vandals, Heruli, and Ostrogoths. Why does it say destroyed by them? You remember when this horn comes into power it says he plucks up three other horns. Stay with us.

Now I want you to consider some of the parallels that we’re gonna discover between the visions of Daniel and Revelation, especially Daniel chapter 7, Revelation chapter 13, this beast

antichrist power. You notice, of course, that when you read in Daniel chapter 7 you get Babylon, a lion; Medo-Persia, bear; Greece is a leopard; and then this fourth beast which is Rome. Now go to Revelation 13, you’ll see something very interesting here. And we’re looking at the first beast or the antichrist power.

“I stood upon the sand of the sea,” waters represent multitudes of peoples, nations, and tongues according to Revelation 17, “and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and,” how many horns? “Ten horns,” just like the beast in Daniel 7, “and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.” We just read where the beast power was guilty of blasphemy; speaking great words against the Most High, remember? “Now the beast that I saw was like unto a leopard,” did we see a leopard before? “And his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Wait a second here, Daniel, looking forward said lion, bear, leopard, strange beast, ten horns.

Now in Revelation it says, strange beast, ten horns, leopard, bear, lion, exact reverse, why? Because now when John has a vision of Revelation who’s ruling the world? Rome! He’s looking back, Daniel was looking forward. What perfect s--harmony, I mean, statistically for that to happen by accident is like 1 in 16, so it’s perfect harmony here.

Now the parallels that you’ll see between Daniel 7 and Revelation 13, Revelation 13 you’ve got a lion, you got one in Daniel 7, a bear, a leopard, both places. The dragon—a dragon, ten horns—ten horns, a mouth—a mouth, wars on the saints, overcomes them, rules three and a half years, in Dan--in Revelation 13 it calls it 42 months, same period of time, right? If you got 30 days to a Jewish month, there on lunar calendar, 42 months is same as three and a half years or 1200 and 60 days. The numbers fit perfectly.

DB—Sermon Question #6: Question number six. Am I going too fast? We all still together? Okay. In Daniel chapter 7 in its prophecy, what happens next?

It says, “And I consider the horns,” these ten horns of the Roman Empire, “and behold, there came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns,” the ten divisions, “were plucked up by the roots. But, behold, in this horn were the eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.” Now we’re going to identify for you who this first beast is in Revelation 13 and who this antichrist power is.

DB—Sermon Question #7: Question number seven. Are there some clear points that help us to identify this antichrist power?

Let’s review the details that we’ve gleaned from Revelation 13 and from Daniel and let’s assemble them and let’s line them up and say who is it? Does it sound like the way to evaluate Bible study? Compare scripture with scripture. I’ve got it so you don’t confuse this with the Bible questions, I’m using letters, I’ve got ten letters A through J, alright.

(A) Number one—it says this little horn kingdom comes up among them. It comes up among the ten horns of Western Europe, the Roman Empire, so it’d be somewhere in Western Europe, okay?

(B) B, and if this makes sense, I wanna hear an “amen,” alright? It would have a man as its head. Says there was eyes of a man, a mouth of a man speaking great thing, okay?

(C) C, it would pluck up or uproot three other kingdoms when it took power, we together, amen?

(D) It’d be diverse, different from these other horns in some way, we’ll find out what that is.

(E) Answer E, it would make war with the saints or be a persecuting power against God’s people.

(F) Answer F, it would emerge from the Pagan Roman Empire when Pagan Rome began to crumble, the fourth world kingdom that we just looked at.

(G) G, God’s people or the saints would be given into its hand for a period of time that’s called a time, a times, and half a time, that’s three and a half years—prophetic years.

(H) Answer H, it would speak great words against the Most High, that in Revelation 13 it says blasphemy, same thing. In Revelation 13 it says that this power speaks blasphemy.

(I) Answer I, it would think to change times and laws.

(J) And J, it’s a worldwide power. All the world wonders after the beast, right? He calls all—causes all—small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to worship. So it’s—it’s a worldwide influence.

Quickly review these once again, A through J. Kingdom comes up among the ten horns, man at its head, it would uproot three kingdoms, be different from the other kingdoms, persecute the saints, emerge from Pagan Rome, God’s people would be given to its hand for a period of time, it would blaspheme, think to change times and laws, and be a worldwide power.

So, here’s the big question that you’re all waiting for, who is the little horn of Daniel 7 and that first beast of Revelation 13? Who is the antichrist power that these prophecies are talking about? Come back Tuesday night, no, I’ll tell you tonight.

Let’s suppose I were to tell you there’s somebody in the audience tonight that used to be a mafia informant and they’re now in the witness protection program, okay? Anyone here know who that person is? How could you know? There’s--I don’t know, they say that we maybe we got 800 here I don’t know how many are here. What would your chances be of guessing? Well, if you’re here with your spouse you might not be sure, right? But what if I started giving you clues, suppose I told you this person here, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna identify this person; former mafia informant, it’s pretty risky, they’re wearing gray.

Alright we’re gonna get some cameras on the audience, find this person tonight. And I can narrow it down by telling you it’s a man, under 50, white shirt, got sunglasses on, big ears, hairdo looks like a Darth Vader helmet, do we know who that person is yet?

I want the camera to now identify that person. Okay. You didn’t know, John, from New York City, used to be a mafia informant, he’s in the witness protection program. Not really.

But do you see how that works? Where if I give you enough clues, eventually, you can narrow the list down. We’ve got--s a lot more clues than I gave you and so let’s look at these clues and let’s find out. A matter of fact, you know what I’m gonna do, I’m just gonna tell you right now who this antichrist power is and then I’m gonna seek to prove it.

Before I tell you this let me share with you in the Bible, first of all nothing I wanna say I don’t wanna offend anybody, I’m gonna talk about the church during this seminar. Are you all aware that the prophecies in the Bible often identified failings among God’s people? In the Old Testament, were the Jews God’s people? Were they God’s people? Yes, of course they were. Did they make a lot of booboos? Did the leadership make a lot of mistakes? Did the prophets often have to call ‘em on the carpet for these mistakes? Did the prophets get persecuted for doing that? Yeah, but the truth is the truth, do you think the New Testament church is immune from that?

Alright, I’m just gonna tell you right now the first beast in Revelation chapter 13 represents—I believe, the Catholic power or the papacy; the second beast, the Protestants in North America. Now am I trying to criticize the papacy? No, I’m an American. I’m technically a Protestant in case you didn’t know that. Everybody is gonna be involved. We’re gonna talk about America, we’re gonna talk about the religious powers of Europe, we’re gonna talk about Protestants, we’re gonna talk about Catholics. Are we all brothers and sisters? I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings but do want to know what the Bible says? Do we want to know what the prophecies say? Fair enough?

Tonight we’re going to talk about some of the failures that took place in Europe with the papacy, on another night we’ll talk about what’s happened to the Protestant church. So I’ll--I’ll get--I’ll get everybody, you just keep coming and everybody will be involved in this, whether you’re an American or a foreigner, the whole world’s involved, right? So does it--everyone understand I’m not trying to be critical of any individuals how they worship but I believe that this first power--and when you say “beast” it doesn’t mean monster. Daniel was in Babylon when it was identified as a beast. Ezekiel was in Persia when it was identified as a beast, do you understand?

So because you’re a member of the Catholic Church for instance doesn’t mean that you’re not a godly person. It doesn’t mean that—matter of fact, they probably have been some of the most humanitarian Christians around the world as far as their missions and their medical work it’s—it’s just outstanding. But biblically, there have been some failures that were foretold and we’re gonna talk about that, okay? So let’s get back to our lesson.

DB—Sermon Question #8: Does the papacy fits the points that we’ve just identified as this fourth power?

One by one we’re go through ‘em:

(A) A. It says it comes up among the ten kingdoms of Western Europe.

And does the papacy fit this? It goes on to say that the dragon gave him his power, his seat, and his great authority. Keep in mind the dragon does not necessarily mean the devil all the time, sometimes the devil operates through kingdoms. In Revelation 12 just before chapter 13, Revelation 12, it tells us that the dragon power was Rome that was persecuting the woman. Now that means that the Pagan Roman Empire would give its seat to this power, is that the way it happened? It says here that the dragon gave him his power, his seat, and great authority.

Little bit of history quickly. The Christian church when it first began to explode was called “Religio Illicita,” it was a forbidden religion. Do we all remember how the Christians were thrown to the lions and they were burnt at the stakes, so forth? Gradually, that changed, with the conversion of Constantine he legalized Christianity but the devil was able to affect more harm by legalizing Christianity than when it was illegal. It remained more pure before.

For instance, Constantine told his army to march through the Tiber River in Rome he says, “You’ve all been baptized yo--now you’re Christians.” And all these Pagan soldiers went down into the water, dry Pagans and they came up wet Pagans, but now they’re being told that they’re Christians. And they brought a lot of Paganism into the church, and it happened almost overnight. Suddenly, Christianity where it was outlawed became the national religion. But they didn’t wanna give up some of their Pagan Roman customs.

For instance, and I don’t wanna be unkind because like I said I--I got a lot of lovely Catholic friends, I went to two different Catholic schools. All over the Roman Empire they had gods that they worshiped and they got a lot of this from the Greek, Apollo, and Jupiter, and Venus, and Mercury, and they’d say to the new priest they’d say, “Now what do we do with our gods”? They said probably we should give them Christian names and that’s exactly what they did. They started calling them Peter, James, John, and Mary, and started praying to the statues.

This really bothered the Vandals in Northern Africa and they would go up to the Romans who are now praying to the saints, the Christians in North Africa, and they would deface them. They’d knock off their heads and break off their hands and they’d say, “They’re just idols, you’re not supposed to pray to them.” And the Christians in Rome were saying, “Well, we’re not really praying to ‘em it just helps us visualize these people when we pray.” But in reality, friends, let’s face it, whenever you pray in front of a statue, even a Buddhist, when he prays in front of Buddha, he knows it’s not Buddha, you aware--are aware of that?

So idolatry began to creep in. And you--the Vandals, you know where you get vandalism? Cause they we’re breaking up all the statues that were being prayed to. That’s where you get the word, they were puttin’ mustaches on the statues of Venus, Venus and breaking off their hands and have we all seen these statues throughout the museums with the heads missing? Vandals did a lot of that, yeah. So gradually, Christianity began to commingle with Paganism and it took on a lot of corruptions at that time.

Let’s look a little bit of history. This is from Abbot’s Roman History: “The transfer of the Emperor’s residence to Constantinople was a sad blow to the prestige of Rome and at that time one might have predicted her speedy decline. But the development of the church and the growing authority of the Bishop of Rome or the Pope gave her a new lease on life and made her again the capital, this time the religious capital of the civilized world.” As the Roman Empire ruled by the Caesars began to crumble around 400 AD, the church was getting stronger and stronger. And when they moved the capital to Constantinople, Rome now really became the seat for the church. Seat for the church used to be Jerusalem. How did they get to Rome? This is what had happened.

Again the developed to the successors of Caesar came the successors of the Pontiff in Rome or the Pope. When Constantine left Rome he gave his seat to the Pontiff. Isn’t that what we just read in prophecy? He would give his seat to this power. Again it says this beast receives his power, seat, and great authority from Rome and that’s exactly what happened with the Catholic Church, even its very location.

(B) The identifying characteristic B. It says it would have a man at its head who would speak for it.

The papacy meets this identifying mark because it does have one man as a central power who speaks in its behalf. They don’t operate based on a council. The Pope is that supreme voice. It says, “Power was given him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations.” I think all of us would agree that Pope John Paul II is the undisputed leader of the Catholic Church. And you know I think I told you my father’s met the Pope and he’s a lovely man. He may not even know some of these things, this is no ridicule against him and I’ll hopefully say some other gracious things about him in a little bit here.

Answer c, does it fit this? Is there one man at the head? Says there’d be a man a central leader. During the days of the apostles they didn’t have it that way. Some people say, “Peter was the first Pope.” But you know who usually chaired the meeting in Jerusalem? Who knows? James, yeah! And so the idea that there was one man it was a council, they’d get together, they’d pray, they’d cast lots, isn’t that they did that in Bible times?

(C) Answer C. It would pluck up or uproot three kingdoms.

The three Arian kingdoms that did not support the papacy; the Vandals, the Heruli, and the Ostrogoths were overthrown. Between 493 and 538, remember that date 538, the Pope was given an army by the Emperor. When the Emperor left town, the Caesar, he told the Bishop of Rome now called, the “Supreme Father” or the “Pope” that he would have an army at his disposal to force heretics to comply or be overthrown.

Did Jesus ever tell the church to use an army to force people to believe? But that’s what started happening. All of a sudden it became a religious political power. This is in the history books, friends, I think most of us know these things. But I wanna tie it all together for you. And so does it fit? It plucked up three horns. Those three other kingdoms of the ancient Roman Empire were overthrown.

(D) Answer D. It would be diverse or different from the other kingdoms.

The papacy came on the scene as a religious power and it was totally different from the secular nature of the other ten kingdoms; where before they were political powers, now all of a sudden it’s religion. Reminds me of the metal image in Daniel chapter 2; you’ve got gold, and silver, and bronze, and iron, and all the sudden you got clay. Clay is what man was made from, right? And it’s a symbol, all the sudden it became a mixture of iron and clay—Rome and religion, the two together.

And that’s what happened in the Catholic Church. It was the commingling of the Roman religion and Christianity. And you can see a lot of that. I’ve been to Rome, friends, and you can see a whole lot of it happening that isn’t in the Bible. And again I’m not trying to criticize my Catholic friends. I’ve talked to friends who are priests and they’ll freely admit, “We don’t base our beliefs solely on the Bible, it’s based on tradition and the Bible.” And any of you can ask your priest that.

So the papacy came on the scene and it is the Vatican is an independent country, do you know that? It’s amazing. Not much bigger than a golf course, and they’ve got their own monetary system, their own post office, their own little choo-choo subway that--that goes around, that’s right. They got their own little army, the Swiss Guard. Have we all heard about the very brave Swiss Guard that they’ve got? It is technically the smallest country in the world. They’re very clever in why they do that, it gives them autonomy. And the United States has an ambassador to the Vatican as do many other--most other major countries of the world. Isn’t that strange?

The United States general assembly will convene to hear the Pope. You think they’ll convene to listen to the head of the Baptist church, or the president of the Methodist church, or other denominations? That ought to tell you something there. Doesn’t it make sense to you that this kind of power that lasted for so long would appear in prophecy somewhere? Of course, this is what the Bible is telling us.

(E) Answer E. It would make war with and persecute the saints.

That the church did persecute is a well-known fact the papacy clearly admits doing so. And it says in Revelation chapter 13 verse 7, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” This is gonna happen again in the last days, isn’t it? There’s gonna be persecution from a religious power. We’ll talk more about that in a future lesson. I think most of us know it’s a well-known fact that the church did persecute and the papacy clearly admits doing so. And I want to congratulate, Pope John Paul II is the first Pope in the history of the Catholic Church to publicly admit.

How many of you remember at 2000, the turn of the millennium, he had a special service where he asked for forgiveness for the sins of the church and it’s persecution in the way it’s treated the Jews and women and there may have been some other things, I don’t remember. But up to that point they claimed infallibility. And technically they still sort of claimed infallibility cause he said it wasn’t really the church it was the sons and daughters of the church that did it. But at least they admitted that it was part of history.

And all you have to do friends, if you think Pastor Doug is--is making these things up, get the encyclopedia, go online, look up the word “inquisition.” Millions died, some estimates range between 50 and 60 million Christian heretics, Jews, and others were killed by the church. And it’s in the history books. I remember reading this when I think I went to a Jewish school and they made no bones about hiding this in our text books. And you just look at the history in Rome and you--you could read about how many of what we call the “martyrs” died. They died at the hands of the church, burned at the stake, tortured.

British historian, Edward William Edward wrote: “That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind will be questioned by no Protestant who has any competent knowledge of history.” And if you’ve been to Europe, you can even, not only Europe, you can go to South America, some of these churches, you go down underneath the churches and they’ll take you on a tour, they’ll say, “Here’s the torture chambers where the people were tortured.” And you can look at the implements. This was operated by the church. It--they were given the responsibility of they called it correcting the heretics. And if you weren’t tortured to renounce your wrong beliefs they might forgive you, otherwise, you could be executed. And I won’t spend a lot of time talking about it cause it is horrific when you study the history.

I dare you, go to any Christian bookstore, ask for the book “Foxes Book of Martyrs,” how many of you, show me your hands, have you heard of that book before? I, you better eat some crackers before you read it, because I’ll tell you, it--it is just amazing what happened during this time. And don’t misunderstand, while there was corruption in areas of leadership, there were also missionaries that were going to other parts of the world that were laying down their lives to save, and to heal, and to minister. So at the same time that there’s been evil in the church, there has been good, too. Is everyone clear on that? Its I’m not trying to make it out like this institution was a monster; they did a lot of good.

(F) Answer F. It would emerge from the fourth kingdom; that we studied.

We know the fourth kingdom was Rome. Remember Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, basic European history. “Oh, Pastor Doug,” someone’s gonna ask, “why in the visions of Daniel and Revelation is it not talking about the Chinese empire, or the Indian, the empire of India, or why doesn’t it deal with the Aztecs and the Incas there were other great empires in the world,” that’s right, there were. These prophecies only deal with the world powers that had power over or influence over God’s people.

Babylon controlled Israel, Medo Persia controlled Israel, Greece controlled Israel, Rome controlled Israel. It’s dealing with the world powers that had a direct influence on God’s people. Now we’re living in an age where God’s people or s--spiritual Israel’s all over the world. So in the last days these world powers are all over the world, aren’t they?

The waters that you saw, it tells us that this power comes up from among a great civilization. Revelation 17:15, “The waters that you saw are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” In other words, this antichrist power would not spring as a new power; it would come up from the midst of the world’s center population. What was the center of world population at the time John has his vision? Rome! Right? That’s why Paul said, “I wanna go preach in Rome.” And Peter was killed in Rome. They said, “We want to go to the fountain of information.” All roads led to Rome. They knew, “If we could take the gospel to Rome it will go to the whole world.” It was the center of communication, the center of transportation, and commerce, and finance. And that’s where this power sprang form. That’s why it called the Roman Catholic Church, based in Rome.

(G) Answer G. God’s people or the saints would be given into his hand for a time, a times, and the dividing of time.

And that means it would be a period of time when it would have uninterrupted power to practice these things. “And power was given unto him to continue.” Revelation 13:5, 42 months, same period of time, three and a half years, 42 months.

Now let’s find out what the starting point is, I already gave it to you but you may not have caught it. The legally recognized supremacy of the Pope began in 538 AD when they--there went into effect a decree of the Emperor Justinian, making the Bishop of Rome head over all the churches. He’s basically said you are gonna be the supreme head of all the Christian churches. Notice who’s doing that, was it the church doing it or a Roman Caesar? Isn’t that interesting? Since when did God want these Pagan emperors deciding how the church is to operate? That ought to tell you something’s wrong. When the government starts telling the churches how they should run themselves, is that gonna happen again? I think it is.

“Making the Bishop of Rome the head over all the churches and the definer of doctrine and the corrector of heretics.”

And again, it says, “Viligius ascended the papal chair in 538 AD under the military protection of Brasilius. So 538 is the starting point for this. Rome fell as an empire and turned into the ten horns about 486. And then you’ve got at the same time the Rome when ruled by the Caesars is called Pagan Rome. As Pagan Rome was dying, Papal Rome was being born. The starting point, virtually everyone agrees with, is 538 AD.

Now if you go, oh by the way, remember in prophecy what does a day equal? Three and a half years has 1200 and 60 days, right? That would equal 1200 and 60 years, right? So if you start at 538 AD and you go 1200 and 60 years, it comes to when? 1798. What could have possibly happened in 1798 that would have interrupted this power that was being described?

If you know your history you know some very strange things happen in France. French Revolution, have you heard the name Napoleon? You realize the first country to ever officially proclaim themselves to be atheistic was France. They burned the Bibles on the streets, they said there’s no God, they went to a ten-day week, up to that point, any of you ever play chess? What pieces are on the right and the left of the king and the queen? Bishops! Why? All through this period of history throughout Europe, there were bishops in every monarch’s palace consulting with them about how they were to run the Empire. Th--they were really sub--subservient to the Bishop of Rome.

And so the kings were underneath the church. If the--if the Pope said to the people in the empire, “Your king is excommunicated and none of you can get to heaven,” they would overthrow their king. So the kings trembled. One king stayed in the snow for couple of days waiting for an audience with the Pope. This is true. So they had a great deal of power. 1798 Napoleon was not afraid of that and he realized that unless we do something to cut off their power they’re going to erode our empire and they looked for some excuse to arrest the Pope and take him into captivity. In 1798 Berthier, the Roman General, made his entrance into Rome, he abolished the Papal, I’m sorry I said Roman General, the French General Berthier made his entrance into Rome, abolished the Papal government, and established a secular one. The Pope was taken into captivity and they lost their uninterrupted power for a time. But the Bible Prophecy would be the deadly wound would be healed and we’ll talk about that.

(H) It says in answer H, indicator H. It would speak great words of blasphemy against the

Most High.

Now I’ve got to be very delicate because I don’t wanna ridicule anyone’s belief. I’m just going by what the Bible says and what the teachings, the official teachings of the church are, and I’ll have to respectfully disagree with that. What is the Bible definition for blasphemy? Two things and we’ll give you the scriptures to prove this here. Claiming to have the power to forgive sin, biblically, is called blasphemy. They accused Jesus of this. Claiming to be God is biblically called blasphemy. It says in Revelation 13:6, “He opens his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme His name.” And it tells us in II Thessalonians this power, “He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped so that he sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.”

Don’t forget that. How many of you have heard this verse before and some people think this means they’re gonna rebuild the temple? I’ve heard it used that way. We’ve learned that the temple, you are the temple of God. This power sits over the church putting himself in the position of God. Now look at the Bible definitions for blasphemy. The Jews said to Jesus, “For a good work we’re not gonna stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

Alright, let’s find out does it fit that definition? You can read in Evangelical Letters of Leo XIII, I’m sorry, Leo VIII: “We hold” this is from Pope Leo, “We hold upon this earth the place of God almighty.” Well, biblically, that fits the definition. Now they may believe that but I respectfully disagree. And again, on April 30th 1922, Pope Pius VI said: “You know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means that I am God on the earth.” See, that’s--biblically, that’s called blasphemy. But this is what their title; their official title is Vicar of Christ. They say, “We are Christ’s representative on earth.”

My Bible says the Holy Spirit is sent to represent Him. Another definition, it says the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason with Jesus and they said, “Who is this that blasphemes, who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone”? And they’re right, only God can forgive sin. That’s a biblical truth. Does the Roman Church claim to have that power? Does the papacy claim to have that power?

According to the “Dignities and Duties of the Priest,” page 27 volume 12, “God Himself is obliged to abide by the judgments of His priest and either not to pardon or to pardon according as they refused or give absolution. The sentence of the priest precedes,” goes first, “and God subscribes to it.” Man does not have the power to forgive sin. So there’s a lot of lovely people, you’d be surprised how many even Catholics don’t know this. But biblically, this is not accurate.

(I) Indicator I. He would think to change times and laws—another power, another sign.

Well, now a quote from “Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcopal,” some of this is in Latin and I don’t read Latin very well. “The Pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ.” And I think all of you know, has the church instituted festivals and feast days and things that you don’t find anywhere in the Bible? Yeah, of course, they do. Where does in the Bible say you can’t eat fish on Friday or some of these things? Yeah, so--so there’s a lot of this that’s going on in history. You don’t technically find lent in the Bible do you? You show me where the scripture is.

You know this is probably a point to pause and I--I want you to know, who do you think the first one was that suggested that the papacy was the antichrist? You know who it was? The first Pope! Let me read to you and you can check on these references I’ll give them to you. Pope Gregory the Great from 540 to 604, he wasn’t the first Pope, but one of the first. He was one of the four original doctors of the church, he became known as Saint Gregory at the end of the ancient period of the church, he said such a church teaching came from the spirit of antichrist. Here’s his quote he wrote: “I confidently affirm that whoever calls himself the universal bishop or desires to be so called, is in his pride a forerunner of antichrist.” This was written by a Pope. And he was against the idea that one individual should be called the Supreme Bishop. And that’s what the word “Papa” or the Papal system or the Pope, it’s all built around this supreme father.

I mean, you know my Dad, I was so disappointed with him when he met the Pope he says, “Ah, I was so excited and I kissed his ring.” And I thought, oh Dad. Now my Dad was such a proud man I never thought—I wouldn’t do that. I mean the Bible says you’re not supposed to worship a man. I mean he might be a wonderful man, but you know at the end of the day everyone’s socks smell, right? And so the idea that you would worship somebody like that and kiss their ring, I don’t wanna be disrespectful, I’m really sorry. I mean he may be a really wonderful man, maybe a very kind, a courageous man, done a lot of good, but you don’t worship them.

Let me give you the--the whole issue we’re dealing with in this seminar it’s a prophecy code, we’re dealing with what does the Bible say, that’s what we wanna know, amen? We said this is our source book, if you’re using other sources then we’re not on common ground. The Bible teaches that we’re not to bow down to statues, Exodus chapter 20 verse 4 and 5. The Roman Catholic Church says that we can bow down to statues, isn’t that right?

Now in North America you don’t see this, not much of it, but you ought to go to Spain, go to--go to South and Central America, go to some of these and I tell you, it is just the most blatant form of idolatry that carry them up and down the street, they adorn them, they kiss them. Go to Saint Peters Cathedral in Rome, the actual statue of St. Peter, oh, a little amazing fact for you.

Are you aware that the statue of Saint Peter that is in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is older than St. Peter? It used to be the statue of Jupiter, they took it out of the temple of Jupiter and they put it in the Basilica and the foot has been kissed off several times and replaced. How many of you knew that? The foot has been kissed away it’s true. You can look in the National Geographic it’s a pictures of people kissing the foot.

I don’t mean to ridicule but it’s idolatry, friends. The Bible says don’t do that, New Testament, “Keep yourself from idols,” amen? Anytime you worship an idol it lowers your concept of God, it doesn’t exalt it. You get a little plastic figurine of Jesus on the dashboard of your car, you think that it’s gonna exalt your concept of God?

The Bible teaches that all have sinned except Jesus. But my Roman Catholic friends teach that Mary was sinless, that’s part of their doctrine. Bible says all have sinned except Jesus. That would include Mary. Even though she was a holy woman, she was a saint, doesn’t mean that she was sinless, that’s different.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, I Timothy 2 verse 5, oh and the other references I forgot to give you, Romans 3 verse 10 through 12; Hebrews 4 verse 15. Jesus is the only mediator, I Timothy 2 verse 5. The Roman Catholic Church says that Mary is a co-mediator with Jesus. Matter of fact, there have been discussions at the Catholic Church of exalting Mary as a co-mediator, co-redeemer, and basically, it would mean that instead of a Holy Trinity you’ve got a holy quartet. No really, they’ve been in discussions talking about that. That was I think in Newsweek magazine.

The Bible teaches that Christ offered His sacrifice on the cross once for all, Hebrews 7 verse 27, 28; Hebrews 10 verse 10, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the priest sacrifices on the altar every mass. Isn’t that right? I remember that when I went to Catholic Church in school.

The Bible teaches that all Christians are saints and priests. The Bible says we are a royal priesthood, right? Books of I Peter chapter 2 verse 9; Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1. The Roman Catholic Church says that the saints and the priests are a special caste within the Christian community, it’s an elite group.

The Bible teaches that all Christians should know that they have eternal life, I John 5:13. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all Christians cannot know and should not know that they have eternal life.

The Bible teaches that we should call no religious Father leader, Matthew 23 verse 9, Jesus says call no man Father, the--you can call your father, father. Jesus was talking about religious leaders. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that we may call the priests and the Pope, “Father.”

The Bible teaches not to pray in vain repetition as the heathen do, Jesus made that very clear. And yet, I remember a lot of Catholics know, you go to confession and the priest will say, repeat this many “Our Fathers,” this many “Hail Mary’s” over and over and over again. Well, that’s not prayer, God is not deaf. There is no value in repeating something and wearing out the Lord. Prayer is to be the cry of your heart to the heart of God.

And the Bible teaches to confess your sins to God only for only God can forgive sin, Isaiah chapter 43 verse 25; Luke 5 verse 24. And Roman Catholic Church says that you must confess your sins to the priest for forgiveness. The teachings of purgatory in limbo, prayers for the dead, are nowhere in Scripture but they’re clearly relics of paganism. Jesus’ words to the Pharisees apply well today when He said, “We nullify the word of God that we might observe manmade tradition.”

Now those of you, who are Protestants, that are feeling very smug now, wait till I get on you. What we wanna do and what my goal is, is to bring people back to the word of God, right? But there--this is something, this is a system that has been and very clearly identified in prophecy, we’re not done yet.

J. It would be a worldwide power.

Is the Catholic Church a worldwide power? The word “catholic” means universal, right? Revelation chapter 13 verse 3, and it says, “All the world wondered after the beast.” It is one of the largest religious groups in the world with one billion members around the world. And part of that is because as soon as they’re born, they’re baptized into membership as babies before they even get a choice. And I’m not trying to be disrespectful but that--those statistics are affected that way.

DB—Sermon Question #9: Question number nine. Wasn’t Daniel told to seal up the book until the time of the end?

Now these prophecies in Daniel they couldn’t understand it until the time of the end. It says in Daniel 12 verse 4, “But thou, oh Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase.” The end of this period of time 1798 is all of a sudden when these prophecies began to explode with understanding.

Question number ten. Many Christians today have been tragically misled regarding what the antichrist is, they think that it’s some monstrous personal individual, it’s actually a system. Am I telling you that Pope John Paul the II is the beast? It’s the office. Do you understand what I’m saying? He might be a lovely man and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with praying for his health that God would use him to do good. I think on certain positions the Catholic Church has taken a very courageous stand when it’s been politically incorrect, their position on abortion and gay marriage. It’s not very popular in this country, is it? And so I think he’s got courage in--in those respects. But the Bible is very clear there’s been serious compromise when it comes to certain biblical truth. It says to believe an untruth about the antichrist could easily cause a person to be deceived and lost.

DB—Sermon Question # 10: What should a person do when new Bible teachings are encountered? What does the Bible says?

In Acts chapter 17 verse 11, if you’re learning new things, friends, and if this has shocked you, I wanna talk to our friends who are watching, follow the word of God, amen? It says in Acts 17 verse 11, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind,” that’s my prayer for you, “and they searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.” Are you starting to search the Bible more during this seminar? I hope you’ll get in the pattern of reading it everyday.

Hebrews, I’m sorry, Hosea chapter 4 verse 6, the prophet there says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” That doesn’t sound fair to destroy someone cause they don’t know something, but it goes on and he says, “because you’ve rejected knowledge.” The danger is in rejecting knowledge. Friends, I’m begging with you, if what I’m saying is in the Bible, then embrace it, ask God to change your heart, at least look at it honestly. He says if we reject knowledge, “I’ll reject thee that thou shall no longer be a priest to me, seeing thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I will forget thy children.” Do we want God to remember our children? Then He says, “Remember my law,” amen?

Now I’m gonna go through, I don’t have time to go to all of ‘em, but just to reinforce some of the things, Pastor Doug, I wish I could tell you I thought all this up and discovered it on my own but I’m standing on the shoulders of all the great leaders of the church, or many of them. Few quotes from you.

Martin Luther wasn’t perfect but a great scholar, listen to what he said about the antichrist power. Luther proved by the revelations of Daniel and St. John, those are the two books we looked at tonight and by the epistles of St. Paul, and St. Peter, and St. Jude, that the reign of antichrist predicted and described in the Bible was the papacy. Everyone here know the papacy is the--what we call the Roman Catholic Church, okay?

John Calvin, another great teacher, 1509 to 1564, mighty preacher. “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff the antichrist, but those who are thus opinioned do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself. After whom we speak and whose language we adopt. I shall briefly show how that Paul’s words in firs--II Thessalonians chapter 2 are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies to the papacy.” And I read you that verse a minute ago, I’m not teaching you anything new.

Thomas Cranmer died for his faith. He was killed by the church, 1489-1556, Anglican. “Wherefore it followeth Rome is to be the very seat of antichrist and the Pope is to be the very antichrist himself,” meaning the office of course. “I could prove the same by many of other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons,” and of course these are--he’s studying the prophecies of Revelation and Daniel. There’s no question about who it is. But what’s amazing is modern Christians have lost these truths, they’re being buried. It’s considered politically incorrect, well you know, if the truth is the truth, does the truth sometimes hurt, friends? Amen.

Roger Williams in North America, he’s the founder of religious liberty in North America, what does he say? He was, by the way, a Baptist pastor, so for our Baptist friends if you forgot what the Baptist used to believe on these prophecies, I’ve been sharing it with you tonight. He says here, “He spoke of the Pope as the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth who sits as God over the temple of God,” this is from “Prophetic Faith of our Fathers” by Froom, and it says, “exalting himself not only over all that is called God, but over the souls and the consciences of all his vassals. Yeah, over the spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yeah over God Himself, speaking against God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws, but he is the son of perdition.”

Did Pastor Doug say anything new tonight? Or is this what the great theologians have said? Maybe you’ve heard of Cotton Mather American Preacher, Congregationalist. “The oracles of God foretold the rising of an antichrist in the Christian church and in the Pope of Rome,” is that plain enough what he believed? You think yet that would get him elected in North America today? That’s not very popular.

Those of you who are Methodists, John Wesley, speaking on these things, and you could just go on and on through Wesley’s writings. Speaking of the papacy John Wesley wrote that, “He is in an emphatical sense the man of sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure increases, and he is too properly styled the son of perdition as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes both of his opposers and followers. He it is that exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped claiming the highest power and the highest honor claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone.” I’m not telling you anything new, friends. This is so clear when you look at the evidence and I’ve only given you a few particles of the evidence tonight.

John Wesley’s commentary on the Bible and you can read again, “That is Europe, the beast is the Roman Papacy as it came to a point 600 years since stands now and will for sometime stand longer, to this and no other power of earth agrees the whole text in every part of it in every point.” He goes on to say, “this beast is a spiritually secular power opposite to the kingdom of Christ, a power not merely spiritual or ecclesiastical nor merely secular or political but a mixture,” isn’t that what we said, it was the commingling of these two things. And I’ll--I’ll read you one more you know I’m just running out of time, I’ve got a long list I could read you, and of what the church fathers have said about this.

A great cloud of witnesses: Wycliffe, you’ve heard of the Wycliffe Bible Society translated the Bible, Tyndale, have you heard of the Tyndale Bible, translated the Bible, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, the 17th Century, you ever read Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, the translators of the King James Bible, and the men who published the Westminster Baptist Confessions of Faith, Sir Isaac Newton, Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, and more recently, Spurgeon, Bishop JC Rylie, from and Rylie, I read his commentary, Doc--Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, these men among countless others, all saw the office of the papacy as the antichrist.

So Friends, Pastor Doug is not standing by himself, these people who have translated the Bible, who have developed the Bible commentaries that knew, some of them had the whole Bible, Cotton Mather had the whole Bible memorized. That’s right, you try that. My son reminded me of that the other day, he’s starting to memorize Scripture. And there was no question in their minds.

Friends, these things are very important because God is wanting you to know the truth. He brought you to this seminar, you’re hearing these things, and I know it’s disturbing and there’s more disturbing things, sometimes the truth hurts, amen? But the truth is a truth. And keep in mind you’ll know the truth and the truth will set you free. And when we reject the elements of truth, be careful, Jesus said, “I am the truth.” To reject the elements of truth is to reject Christ.

Now I need to ask you friends, are we still friends? It’s like Paul said, “Will you be angry at me because I tell you the truth”? You know I don’t want your blood on my hands. These are what the prophecies foretold would happen and there’s much more still coming God wants you to hear. We are living, I believe with all my heart and soul, in the last generation. And things are happening, right now prophecies are being fulfilled everyday, and God wants us in His kingdom. Do you wanna be there? Are you willing to say, “Lord, show me the truth and give me a heart willing to accept whatever the truth is, to accept the truth,” is that your prayer? Let’s ask Him together.

Dear Loving Father, thank you for the word of God you’ve given us. We thank you for the truth. And sometimes the sword does cut like a knife, sometimes it brings division and conviction, but I pra--I pray Lord, that you’ll help us to apply it to our own hearts. Lord, we pray that you will sever from our souls anything, any idol, in our hearts that would keep us from seeing and embracing the truth, because in doing so we will embrace your very son.

Father, I pray you’ll be with each of these people. I know some have heard some things tonight that have been very disturbing, shocking, and I pray that they’ll really keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, that their decisions will be based and rooted in the rock of what Jesus says in His word, that our house will not be washed away when the storm comes. Lord, thank you for the promise that if we do this, we can stand holding your hand, in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.